Speech Difficulties

[Junto]

Does anyone else suffer from "speech issues"? I notice that when my CFS is at it's worst, I slur, stutter and stumble through each sentance and I appear dyslexic at times. I'm sure many people at work think I'm intelectually disabled. I'll have a day or so out of the month when I'm feeling OK and verbal communication is much more smooth and easier to perform. This is rare, however.

Junto

 

[*GG*]

I think we calll this brain fog, if you have been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, people call it Fibro fog, there are methods of treating this. FYI

GG

 

[taniaaust1]

I tend to think of brain fog/fibro fog as being different to speech issues thou it can make them more likely to occur. I know some have quite bad brain fog but still wont be stuttering and slurring their words. Brain fog thou often makes people have to talk slower and stop and think more before saying things or say wrong words at times in their sentences.

I myself find the slurring often is related to exhaustion and tiredness (rather then my brain fog). Whereas when I stutter , for me it can be due to the trouble concentating or a complete mental block coming in (my mental blocks arent like my mind fog as they seem to be more so often like some form of absent seizure so something more neurological.. like a complete short out in the brain).

Same with the dyslexic talking in my case.. it seems to be a neurological thing which can kick in and out.

My speech got so bad when I was so sick I was also bedridden, that I got to the point where I was only able to communicate in baby sign language or in single words that a 2-3 yr old would utter. Not only my brain wasnt too good.. my mouth.. it was like I couldnt coordinate it to talk (neurological?).

 

[Shell]

I get the speech difficulties. Slurring and stumbling over words is worse when I have jaw-lock and my tongue seems to be numb and won't move properly. This also makes swallowing difficult.
I get word problems all the darn time and it drives me nuts. Interestiingly I rarely have "language" probs when typing. I might take ages to type anything because of how slow I am, but I don't muddle words as often as when I'm speaking.

My default word for anything seems to be "dishwasher". If I try and correct it I end up with "washdisher" or even "fishdish" which entertains the kids, but makes communication more difficult. Fortunately, even when I am totally unable to get the word order or right words out my children seem to be able to interpret what I'm trying to say and are pretty accurate most of the time.
It is much worse in the evenings or when I'm extra tired or crashed.
Sometimes I just can't speak at all. I just give up then.
It gets worse, I've noticed, when there's noise or other things happening. It's as though my brain is hopping over to the distraction and then can't formulate a sentence.

Most of the time I can laugh about it, but sometimes it is so frustrating I've been close to tears.
I have not been offered a treatment and wasnt aware there was one.

Hope you can get some help Junto. It must be especially difficult if you are at work.

 

[taniaaust1]

Ive heard of ME/CFS speech issues being treated by speech therapy (I didnt hear thou about how successful or not that is)

 

[AFCFS]

Does anyone else suffer from "speech issues"? I notice that when my CFS is at it's worst, I slur, stutter and stumble through each sentance and I appear dyslexic at times. I'm sure many people at work think I'm intelectually disabled.

I get this on occasion. I tend to have a very detailed cognition/speech patterns anyway but then if I cannot string thoughts together and exit them out the mouth, they come out as "intellectually disabled." I can see it in the nonverbal communication of a shift in eyebrows, an anticipation of speech, or just an annoyance in that I am taking up so much of their time trying to convey a thought. It sometime makes me want to choke people, but I understand this is not socially acceptable behavior.

 

[Gavman]

No but chances are if you talk well to friends even when you're low its a nervousness problem.
I struggle to say what I want when I can't get the social queues of listening or there's too much noise.

 

[SickOfSickness]

Yes, I get this on a bad day or bad hour. When I did too much. It is compounded by social anxiety but I have the problem even with my partner I'm comfortable with.

 

[Seven7]

Good that u brought that up. I have it very bad at times, In the neuropshy eval, I was borderline impaired. I have not been given any help.In the last days, If I have to say "long beach" I say beach loooooo and slur the word. So I switch, slur, can find words.....

I also have issues writing and skipping words or writing second syllable first.

 

[Nielk]

I have this when I'm crashing. I have difficulty finding the proper words and even when I find it, I have difficulty pronouncing it. This, for me, has nothing to do with social phobia. I believe it has to do with pure exhaustion of body and mind. It feels like when one is woken up in middle of a deep sleep and is trying to speak.

 

[Shell]

Mine isn't social phobia either. It's linked to how exhausted I am or if I'm trying to do more than one thing at a time. I don't have anxiety problems thank God - for those of you who do, it must make matters even more complicated.

Yesterday in a fog I asked my oldest daughter to fetch me the big scissors.
"where are they?" she asked
"In the disappearing box," I answered. Wha..? Fortunately she has been around my random word use and incomplete sentances for so long she said "Do you mean the dishwasher?"
And I did.
If nothing else my bizarre use of language is entertaining.

 

[MishMash]

Mine isn't social phobia either. It's linked to how exhausted I am or if I'm trying to do more than one thing at a time. I don't have anxiety problems thank God - for those of you who do, it must make matters even more complicated.

Yesterday in a fog I asked my oldest daughter to fetch me the big scissors.
"where are they?" she asked
"In the disappearing box," I answered. Wha..? Fortunately she has been around my random word use and incomplete sentances for so long she said "Do you mean the dishwasher?"
And I did.
If nothing else my bizarre use of language is entertaining.

Shell,
I completely agree with you on the language thing:
I'm completely at sixes and sevens about when my kids are teapot lids up apples and pears, doing their tommy tucker, on and on with the rabbit and pork.
For some reason, people can't understand true english.
.

 

[GracieJ]

For me, it's total exhaustion. I can say the oddest things at the end of the day to my last client... fortunately, it's just funny enough we both laugh.

It was hardest when I was still a manager and had to present to a group. My mind would just go blank when tired, or strings of jumbled words would emerge. It wasn't nerves, as I spent years teaching classes and presenting at seminars and loved it -- until my mind started going blank mid-sentence. I turned down middle management in my current job over this issue. I can say the craziest, most nonsensical things. If people didn't know me, I think they would call the funny farm.

I like studying syntax through history and cultures, in the context of brain function. Very interesting. I do wonder just how the language center of the brain is being affected during these verbal white-outs, as I can visualize the first letter of the word I want, the sound, and the meaning... often, I can define the word with smaller words, and someone else supplies it for me. So annoying to not be able to just spit it out.

 

[Hell...Hath...No...Fury..]

There doesn't seem to be a lot on speech therapy on here but i had a speech therapist come to my home 2 months ago. She had never seen anyone with ME before. Unfortunately i was on a good day when she came so of course it sounded like i was talking bull when trying to explain how bad it is but she did 'seem' to get it to an extent.
She did pee me off to begin with though as i was having a bad POTS day and i was struggling to breathe and the first thing she said was 'oh i can come back another time if you're too anxious today' that presumption, really annoyed me. I told her my breathing problems have nothing to do with anxiety something i've never suffered with in my life.
She did seem to get that different methods of help are required throughout the day as using each method or apparatus is exhausting in itself.
She had brought a speaking device with press buttons but soon reslised that pressing buttons to speak only works when you can press the buttons, she also mentioned an ipad with speech software.
Its been 2 months and she only got back to me after my OT prompted it as there's a big waiting list. It sounds like i'm going to be forwarded onto yet another person for analysis first though.
My issue like some posts above is mainly complete exhaustion, it takes all my energy to breathe in and out, to be able to also form words through that breath is inconceivable sometimes when there isn't even any strength in the breath itself.
If anything useful comes from the speech therapist i'll let you know though i'm doubtful.

 

[Thinktank]

I have been having speech difficulties for the last year as well among other cognitive impairments. I notice it's worse on days when i'm having difficulty breathing like there's not enough oxygen entering my brain.
On such days my speech is very slow and i can't find the right words to say because my mind is racing with thoughts and way how to give a short as possible answer, to make it worse certain words seem to be difficult to pronounce and i sound like a total retard.
Has anyone on here found the specific reason for your speech impairment?

 

[Antares in NYC]

Does anyone else suffer from "speech issues"? I notice that when my CFS is at it's worst, I slur, stutter and stumble through each sentance and I appear dyslexic at times. I'm sure many people at work think I'm intelectually disabled. I'll have a day or so out of the month when I'm feeling OK and verbal communication is much more smooth and easier to perform. This is rare, however.

Hi Junto,
I was afraid I was the only one. Yes, I too experience times when I feel like I can't speak correctly. Since I got CFS 15 years ago, I function at about 60% of full potential most of the time. I'm lucky to only be bedridden a few times per year, but when it comes to cognition, I'm always in a deep brain-fog that makes it quite difficult to think straight.

There are some days when I wake up an absolute mess, and I would be lucky to reach a 40% of functionality. On those days, the following symptoms are much more noticeable:

• Brain fog so thick I could chew it!
• Odd stuttering and stumbling on certain words. Sometimes slurring.
• Changing the order of words in a sentence, to the point that it makes no syntax sense.
• Having a tough time recalling names or words. I often forget names of people I see daily!
• Often stopping mid-sentence because I can't recall a word, or a completely forget my train of thought.

Some people think I'm an idiot because of these quite noticeable issues. I do have to work full time, so you can imagine what it feels like when some of your coworkers think you are completely mental.
The side effect of this problem is that it makes me much more self-aware, often shy, and terrified to speak in public. I'm constantly aware of how this problem makes me look amongst my peers. I wasn't like that before CFS, and public speaking was easy for me. Not anymore.

 

[alex3619]

I have most of these problems too, especially when I am more tired, or in a crash.

There is one though that has not been mentioned so far. Remember those horrible word processors that autocomplete words? My brain does that. My thought has moved on, and my brain will continue writing or speaking, but the word that comes out might be only kind of like the one I thought. Its been autocompleted to the wrong word.

I also have the problem that words with similar meaning can get exchanged. I used to use bookshop instead of library, and library instead of bookshop, and this could get confusing as I was teaching a first year university class at the time I first noticed this.

As a related problem, I notice now that if I want to use a word, but cannot say it, then I substitute to a similar word or phrase. If all else fails, my default position is now either to make a rude sound (which will sometimes jolt my brain into finding the right word) or say something like "thingy, thingy, thingy". Alternatively I will just describe the thing I am trying to say, using however many words that takes instead of just one.

 

[ithought]

I am currently unable to speak at all nothing is coming out how it should, I sound like a very drunk drunkard.

I have to use software on my telephone or an eye glaze board to speak to my carers. My speech goes quite regularly and comes back when it wants it can be the same day or weeks later..

 

[ithought]

I found this link tonight on you tube. I think it describes some aspects well, although I am currently reliant on software to talk

 

[Aerose91]

This is a common aspecaspect of brain fog for all types of conditions, you don't need so each therapy for it. I get it all the time but also got it frequently when I just had adrenal fatigue before getting ME. it's like your mouth just can't get the damn sounds out right. When the points come that the brain fog lifts this will go with it.